


Beat

by orphan_account



Category: Legion (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-01 11:18:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12703929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: How Oliver and Melanie met





	Beat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [misslucyjane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misslucyjane/gifts).



“I know you have many more questions but we do need to move on to our next speaker. Thank you, Doctor Melanie Hamilton.”

Melanie gathers her notes, lifts the acetates, still warm from the overhead projector, and, hands still shaking a little, leaves the stage. Her heels clack on the few wooden steps. It’s certainly not her first symposium; but her first on the topic of the paranormal and psychiatry; specifically, "Normalizing the Paranormal”. She expected robust challenge from her peers; it has indeed been most robust. Aggressive, even. Hostile. She wonders if she will ever be invited to speak again, other than to conspiracy theorists. Her wish to see the next speaker, Dr Henry Jacobs, grey bearded and endlessly cited, diminishes with the realisation that she has only been his warm up act.

 A student in what she is certain is his only button down shirt, official helper's lanyard round his neck, closes the doors of the conference room behind her, softly, so as not to disturb the Terribly Important Presentation now beginning.

 In the lobby, a man in a pinstripe suit guides her by the elbow. “Doctor Hamilton. I have some advice I’m sure you’ll want to hear.”

 "Oh?" Another man with another opinion, most probably. But, if it leads to research funding....

 "I work for a government agency with interests aligned to your own. We're keen to...." As she starts to walk with the man in the sharp suit and highly polished black shoes, an unlikely pair come briskly towards her; a gangling, awkward man with thick framed spectacles, who looks ill at ease in a vest and tie, and a somewhat more flamboyant man in a safari suit and cravat.

 “Doctor Hamilton,” Cravat begins, “That was marvelous. Just marvelous. The car's waiting to take us to lunch, as we agreed. I’m sure you won't mind us stealing her away, Mr…?”

 There is no lunch arrangement; Melanie is about to tell him so, when a voice inside her head says, _Come with us and be safe._

 She pauses, startled.

_It's true. Everything you've been working on is true. But you need to come with us to be safe._

Melanie gently pulls her elbow free from suit's hand. "Of course, I'm so sorry. I have a prior engagement. Another time? Do you have a card?"

 _I’m the proof_ , says the voice. _Your theory is correct._

Suit goes for his inside jacket pocket, and for one moment Melanie feels a flash of fear. A sliver of card changes hands. Cravat places a large, warm palm on the small of her back and steers her toward the door, and then a waiting car. The chauffeur is a teenage girl, her face concealed by long dark hair.

“Who was that man back there?” asks Melanie. The card has a number, but no other detals. “And who are you?”

“We have a research project I am sure you’ll find fascinating. Would you do me - us - the great honour of joining us for a conversation? We have a suite close by.”

 _Who are you_? she thinks at him, very focused, highly enunciated.

“Allow me to introduce myself. Oliver Bird. Poet, singer, musician, conductor, raconteur, rancher. Occassional scientist. We have mutual interests.”

~~~

There is another week before the term's teaching commitments begin, so Melanie has some time. Also, she is intrigued. Following a brief conversation in a sterile hotel room, she travels with them to Oliver Bird’s ranch. The presence of Cary and his younger sister Kerry gives her a sense of safety; possibly false, but her curiosity drives her trust.  So, she accepts the invitation.

The acres of land have a small cluster of buildings at their heart; rough log cabins, outdoor plumbing. The winters must be bitter. One building is set aside as a small laboratory for psychological experiments; a mirror wall, soundproofing, a reel to reel tape recorder, and a 35mm film camera. It even has the latest punch hole computer for processing experimental data.

 She sees how Kerry dissappears into Cary. Melanie isn’t sure if they are mutants or if she is becoming mad; but Cary and Kerry convince her it's the former. It could be a magician’s illusion, but they do it with such seamless ease, in every kind of environment, even where there is no way to hide a person. In the open, in the middle of the forest; in the kitchen. When Cary needs someone to stir the pot, Kerry appears on demand; then vanishes before what she calls the “boring” act of eating.

Melanie conducts simple, small experiments. She measures Oliver’s heart rate and temperature as he speaks into her mind. She checks Cary's physiological state when he is one, and when he is two. Cary is working on technology to allow them to measure specific parts of the brain, then they'll understand what is happening more. For now, they know something is happening, but not the mechanisms and impact.

There are others, half a dozen, who come and go around the ranch. A girl who shoots flames from her hand. A man who can make himself look like anyone he touches. A woman who can run too fast to see. Melanie sets aside her trepidation. These people are fascinating.

 Oliver tells her he can only hear her thoughts if she chooses to let him, but Melanie isn't sure. If he can't see inside her mind in order to predict her wishes, then he is truly the smoothest man in all of America. He selects wine and food perfectly to her tastes. He knows she prefers sunflowers to roses; traditional jazz to fusion.

 She watches him charm the flame girl, and the running woman. He has charisma, for sure; wholly indiscriminate charisma.

 Over the week, Melanie becomes convinced. These people have powers beyond her experience; but they need help. They need to learn to accept themselves. They need counselling, and confidence building. And the situation requires order, rigour; application of scientific methodology which the well intentioned but scattergun Oliver and Cary have not quite mastered.

She could do good work here.

Dr Melanie Hamilton is not surprised when Oliver asks her to stay. She is tempted. The research facilities are excellent; the potential for new learning incredible. But she has students relying on her. And Oliver.. He’s…

He's exceptionally friendly. With everyone.

~~~

 Melanie says she will see out the teaching year, to allow the university time to find a replacement. With Oliver sponsoring her travel, Doctor Hamilton speaks at many conferences and symposiums. Kerry always travels with her, and therefore, so does Cary. Sometimes there are men in suits waiting outside. Sometimes Kerry, and therefore Cary, comes back to the hotel bruised and bleeding. Sometimes they do not.

 Academia bores Oliver, but he travels with them when he can. Sometimes he's in disguise with a false beard or a large hat. Melanie would know Oliver anywhere, whatever the disguise, even without him speaking into her mind; she is occasionally unsure if he is in disguise, or experimenting with a new look. Sometimes he talks silently to her after her speeches.

  _A wonderful presentation._

_I love how you proved correlation was not causation._

_That’s an amazing dress. Great legs._

 Melanie would love to think Oliver follows her speaking engagements because he is besotted with her, but she knows he’s looking for connections, for others like him. Flirtation is like breathing to him; nothing special or even conscious. He watches the attendees closely for any kindred spirits; he gives them directions; he builds his base.

 He and Cary, and sometimes Melanie, spend the evenings talking about “Summerland,” the research centre, or sanctuary, or something undefined as yet, but which is going to be amazing. The name is Wiccan, Oliver tells her.  Summerland is a place where the soul rests between incarnations, Oliver says. He wants to create a place of rest, and reinvention; take that which is hidden and make it visible. Build a strong collaborative team.  The men in suits are coming, Oliver says; working together is the only way to ensure powers are used for good; that individuals have self determination; that art can stand alongside science. He speaks to these points, loudly, in words and in heads, and most fluently after a few drinks. They do not always make sense, but he is certainly passionate about them.

In his poetry he draws extensively on Japanese folklore, but there’s no similar concept to Summerland outside of the west. Also, Japanese names are too difficult for the average American to understand; being a mutant doesn't make you immediately cultured, he theorizes. Although prolonged exposure to the works of Roscoe Mitchell, perhaps via some John Coltrane as a stepping stone, could go some way to rectifying the problem..

 Melanie and Oliver are alone when he takes her hand and explains that, in the pagan religions, after one has lived life to its fullest, has come to know and understand every aspect and emotion of physical human life, one can stay in the Summerland for an eternal afterlife.

 She cannot forget the shape of Oliver’s lips as he says “physical”; nor the burn in her cheeks.

 ~~~

While Melanie is touring universities in California, there are many men in suits. Los Angeles is especially challenging, and requires intervention. Afterwards, Cary stays in to rest and recover from what Kerry has done to their body.

 Melanie needs air. She wears dark clothes and covers her blond hair in a scarf. As she and Oliver walk along Venice boardwalk, she sees the occasional government man start towards them, then turn away.

 “Are you doing that?” she asks Oliver.

 He smiles modestly. “If it’s just the odd one or two, I can generally cope. I thought we should have some time alone - I can stop, if you’d rather?”

Melanie slides her hand into the crook of his elbow, and feels safe.

“You’re going to find it very difficult to keep working in mainstream academia,” Oliver continues. “And dull. People with my kind of skills, people like Cary - they’re lab rats, to universities. At Summerland, they’re human. You’re wasted, working with the mild eccentrics and schizophrenics who turn up in hospitals. You'll never get access to our brains and bodies through academia. Melanie, you have an extraordinary brain. We’re looking at true evolution of the mind, Melanie. How it makes the body do extraordinary things. All over the world, people are evolving, changing for the better. Developing abilities we can only dream of.

 Unchartered waters, Melanie Hamilton. There’s so much we could learn together. I can give you the people, and Cary can build the equipment, and you can uncover what’s really happening; why we’re different, how to harness it, control it.”

 They walk further, the waves on the beach punctuating the silence.

 “And these men,” as he sends another veering off the sand and towards the road, “they’re not going to give up.”

 “It’s not me they want,” says Melanie. “I might understand more than most people about your mind, but I have no powers. They’ll realise that quickly.”

 Oliver stops; faces her. Confidently pulls her closer. “You may know my mind Melanie, but I know your heart.” He leans closer for a soft, tender kiss. Before they make contact, Melanie pulls back and slaps him.

  _Hey!_ Melanie hears in her mind.

  _We’re not all into free love_ , she thinks back.

 ~~~

 The last semester before graduation is always tough, and Melanie has a heavy teaching and marking workload. She does not visit Summerland, or see Oliver or Cary, for several weeks.

She discussed her future with her head of department Professor Beech is simultaneously pleased at the investment her speaking engagements are bringing, and embarrassed at her subject matter.

 Melanie chooses not to choose. Graduation; resits; marking; second graduation. References to be written; books to be outlined; grant submissions to type up. Work is busy, and Melanie’s days are full of busywork.

 And then, she is invited to an evening of poetry, suspiciously local and far too convenient.

 ~~~

 The bar is dark and smoky, populated by beautiful people, relaxed, laughing, high.

 Oliver and Melanie sit in the shadows, sippng martinis. He is self aware but not self conscious. Although he looks like a parody of a poet, Melanie knows Oliver Is quite at home in his rollneck, his non-ironic beret, his skin tight black pants and almost invisible black neckerchief.

 He is more padded than the surrounding lean and hungry chain-smoking beat gang; his beard fuller; his hair just a little peppered with gray; a hint of how he might look as an older, distinguished man.. His comfort in, or obliviousness to, his differences,  serves to emphasise his confidence and certainty. While the other men in the bar surround themselves with gangs of women, seeking assurance by volume, Oliver holds Melanie’s hands, sips his martini, asks how she has been.

 Oliver doesn't need women to make him whole, Melanie realises. Oliver knows who he is, and where he is. His dalliances are pure pleasure pursuit, Melanie is certain. And perhaps she should stop being so stubborn, ignore her late mother’s voice in her head (“there are girls for fun and girls for marriage…”) and let herself have fun. As long as they both know what they are getting into; as long as she isn't seriously thinking about going to Summerland as a career...

 “What are you going to perform?” she asks, halting that train of thought.

 “Something quite traditional, I think.

 There was a young lady of Niger

who smiled as she rode on a tiger;

They returned from the ride

with the lady inside,

and the smile on the face of the tiger.”

 

Melanie laughs. “Lear,” she says, and is glad that Oliver resists the obvious terrible pun.

 They call Oliver’s name, and he steps onto the stage and up to the microphone. Speaking without notes, he lowers his sunglasses half an inch, meeting Melanie’s gaze over the top of them.

 

“What do the stars say?

A horoscope

Horror scope

Future written unwritten…”

 

Melanie tunes out the words, which are ridiculous quasi-artistic gibberish, and closes her eyes The softness of his voice, the gentle rhythm; it thrills her.

 Afterwards, she watches as the young things try to flirt with him; their beehives, miniskirts and heavily lined eyes set to attract the men. Someone turns on music; Charlie Parker. Oliver makes his way back over to her, bearing two more martinis.

 “You were wonderful,” Melanie says, referencing the performance if not the poetry.

 Oliver leans in. “You are wonderful.”

 ~~~

 They don't make love that night. They experience something far more intimate. Oliver shows her the astral plain; sitting together on an imaginery balcaony, looking at the real stars. Not touching, not even looking at each other> He projects them into Inokashira park. Although it is out of season, the cherry trees are heavy with blossom.

 “Have I ever told you,” Oliver asks, “the story of the woodcutter and the crane?”

 “No,” says Melanie. “I don't believe you have.”

 ~~~

 It’s a small wedding; one or two faculty members, and the residents of Summerland who have learned to control their powers. Oliver doesn't even hesitate at promising to "keep himself only unto her", and Melanie signs the register as Doctor Melanie Bird. Their first dance is an ostentatious tango; Ravel's Bolero, which Oliver insists is one of the most powerful and passionate pieces of music ever written. Melanie lets herself be led.

 Every morning he brings her coffee in bed, and a single stem flower in a vase; whatever the season, always a sunflower.

Melanie knows she is truly loved; and that she will never be alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so glad you asked for this story, which is a story of my fandom heart. I find this romance so true and pure and yet so heartbreaking. I think both of them compromise to be together, and they are truly lovely. Who wouldn't relish the opportunity to make it a little more melancholy? I hope they work it out in season two.


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